


She's All You

by ChemicalRoseRomance



Series: the good, the bad - the dad-life [2]
Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Cute Kids, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Growing Up, Healthy Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 07:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11823801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChemicalRoseRomance/pseuds/ChemicalRoseRomance
Summary: River Cahn grows up to be just like her papa.





	She's All You

**Author's Note:**

> This is an add-on to a multi-chapter story called "Titles are Hard, Bro!"  
> You don't need to read it to understand this oneshot, but I'd still incourage you to (mainly because I wrote it and I think it's good hahaha)

Ever since Thomas had become a part of the twin’s life, Craig noticed subtle changes in them. They had grown into more playful and imaginative versions of themselves, which was a bonus. One thing he could have done without was the increase in sarcasm. Still, they largely remained ‘his girls’. Sportive, competitive and more inclined to play softball than read a book.

River was an entirely different story. She had known Thomas practically all her life and taken on many of his behaviourisms and interests. If Craig was honest with himself, he had seen it coming way back in the day.  
Thomas had just moved in, he sat on the living room floor with River (a toddler still) situated in his lap. They both wore the exact same expression, a look of concentration and amazement. Eyebrows pulled high, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, both of them staring onto the page of the picture-book. They didn’t notice him taking a picture with his phone.

Craig watched in fascination as River matured and resembled Thomas more each day. They weren’t blood-related, but truth be told it didn’t matter. The difference in their physical appearance was pushed aside by their way to express themselves, how they would interact – or avoid to interact – with people and the love they shared for stories.

At the age of four, River asked to be taught the alphabet. She learned quickly and soon went on to write first simple words, then entire sentences. Reading came even easier to her.

It didn’t surprise Craig when River decided not to join the softball team, or any sports team for that matter. Instead, she spent hours in front of the desk in her room, writing down the stories she had made up. Once she was happy with the result, she’d take them to Thomas, who without prompting put aside whatever he’d been working on to check for mistakes and explain where she could improve. River always listened attentively, took back the paper and made corrections.

At night, when River had gone to bed, Thomas would take the papers and type them up in a word document. He asked Lucien, who had left to study at an art school in New York, if he’d be willing to design a cover for each story, against a compensation. Lucien had agreed and soon enough there was a nice assortment of stories with coherent artwork.

At River’s fourteenth birthday, they decided to buy her a laptop. She had used the computer in the office for school work, but generally stuck to writing her stories down the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. Thomas was aware that the tradition of sneaking away with the sheets of paper and typing them up would come to an end. Truthfully, he had seen it coming, but it still upset him a little. He asked a last favour of Lucien – who had long ago gotten his degree and now worked somewhere that had something to do with the internet (Thomas didn’t get it, but then again, the internet frequently didn’t make sense to him).

Therefore, on her birthday, River did not only receive a laptop, but also a collection of books that contained all her works. There were a total of eight books – each book made up by stories she had written in one year of her life, with an individual cover-art as well as a drawing for each story. Book One was fairly short, having been written at age six. Book eight however was made up by a couple hundred pages.

River’s reaction was priceless. For a moment she was completely quiet, thumbing through the pages of Book Two – then she pounced at Thomas who could barely keep himself and her upright.  
“That’s amazing papa. Most of these I’ve actually lost or thrown away. Thank you!”

Craig was not surprised when River came home to tell him that she was now part of the school newspaper team. He was even less surprised when he was told that River had technically left the journalism-club to have more time to write her fictional stories, which would then be published in said newspaper. After she had given them to Thomas to read.

Their daughter started sending her short stories to magazines and local newspapers. Few were published; River wouldn’t let herself by brought down that. Once she had finished high school, she went on to college to study English Literature and Mythology – something she said would be useful as an author.

When River came home for Christmas, she took the script of her newly-written fantasy novel with her. Craig had a hard time convincing Thomas to put it down again after he had started reading. He only succeeded by pointing out that there were only so many occasions their four daughters would be present at the same time, then adding he would withhold sex for the next couple of days if his husband wouldn’t join them in five minutes.

On Christmas morning, Thomas opened a present given to him by Amanda and River. It contained ten books, two for each year since River had started writing her stories digitally. Instead of artwork, the books contained photographs, clearly taken just to enhance the stories. On the last page of the tenth book, he found a photograph of their family, taken on his and Craig’s last anniversary.  
“I knew he’d start crying again – let it out pop’s.” Both River and Amanda pulled him into a hug, the rest of the family joined in minutes later, until they were just a big pile of Huxley-Cahns.

When River left to go back to college, Thomas slipped her a piece of paper with the name, phone number and contact details of his book publishers.

 

Craig came home to find Thomas sitting in his armchair in the living room. He was too quiet and Craig felt the need to check on him. Upon closer inspection, his husband was weeping over a book.  
“What, did one of your favourite characters die again?”  
Thomas didn’t answer, instead he held out the open book for Craig to read.

_The author would like to thank:  
__A lot of people. Unfortunately there is only so long I can keep the average reader’s attention with sentiments, therefore I’ll keep it short: My mom, my dad, Amanda, Briar and Hazel (in alphabetical order, because I’m required to love them all equally)._  
_More than anybody else, I have to thank my pap’s Thomas Huxley-Cahn (he’s an author too, you should check out his books!):_  
 _I will forever be grateful that dad made you part of our life and I cannot thank you enough for encouraging me to continue working on the silly stories I made up as a child. Every little thing you have done for me has made me the person that I am today (therefore I hold you accountable for my flaws). I love you!_  
 _River Huxley-Cahn_

Craig sunk on his knees in front of Thomas. He placed his hands softly at his husbands jaw, making him look up and into his eyes. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see that coming.” He proceeded to kiss the tip of Thomas’ nose and wiped away the tears.


End file.
